Charging tongs for lift trucks



Dec. 11, 1951 J H, ONES 23,578,070

CHARGING TONGS FOR LIFT TRUCKS Filed June 9, 1950 f 2 SHEETS-SHEET l I N VEN TOR. JOJfP/-l H. JON/.f5

Dec. 1l, 1951 .1. H. JONES CHARGING TONGS FOR LIFT TRUCKS Filed June 9, 1950 2 Sl-lEETS-SHEET 2 I N V EN TOR. JDJE'PH H. JUA/5 www ATTORNEYS Patented Dec-.11, 1951 cnAnGmG 'roNGs Foa um* TRUCKS Joseph H. Jones, Canton, Ohio, assigner to Republic Steel Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of New Jersey I Application June 9, 1950,' Serial N0. 167,181

1 claim. 1

The present invention relates generally to the material handling art and is more particularly concerned with novel aparatus for transporting articles such as billets and ingots. I

In industrial operations, such as loading reheating furnaces, it is necessary to lift and carry elongated metal billets and to introduce them into the furnaces before and during the firing operations. These billets are far too heavy to be lifted and carried about by hand and the expense of such an operation would prevent its use commercially even if the billets were of substantially reduced size and weight. Accordingly, various means and devices have been developed for the purpose of handling such articles and some of these devices have come into wide general use. To the best of my knowledge. however, none of the devices thus developed prior to this invention have proven to be entirely satisfactory, a common shortcoming being their excessively large number of parts and their high manufacturing cost due to their complexity.

In contrast to the devices of the prior art, the apparatus of this invention consists of relatively few parts which are not expensive to manufacture or assemble. Furthermore, the present apparatus lends itself readily to combination with a standard lift truck including the conventional upright mast and means for moving the mast vertically in the usual manner. Such combination has the further advantage of being substantially more economical than the prior art devices including vehicle means and of being easier to operate and more versatile in operations such as lifting billets from the mill floor, carrying them endwise to the furnaces, thrusting them through the furnace doors and releasing and dropping them within furnaces when they are clear of the furnace side walls and door sills. The ease of operation of the present devices enables the introduction of the billets into the furnace and the release of them therein rapidly so that the operator of the vehicle and the carrying apparatus itself are not subject to too much high temperature heat in the course of the operation.

Those skilled in the art will gain a further understanding of this invention and further objects and advantages thereof upon consideration of the following detailed description of apparatus embodying the invention in a preferred form, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional lift truck equipped withthe said preferred ap paratus of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of a portion of the apparatus of Fig. l including the head piece, tong means extending forwardly of the head piece and mechanism for opening and closing the tongs;

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view of the apparatus of Fig. 2 taken on line 3-3 thereof;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of valve means to control the operation of the tong operating mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view in plan of the free end of the apparatus of Fig. 1 showing the tongs and the operative connection betweentli'e tongs and operating mechanism therefor, and;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary, elevational, sectional view of the lower portion of the frame of the Fig. 1 apparatus, showing how the frame is mounted for tilting motion in a vertical arc.

As illustrated in the foregoing drawings, the apparatus of this invention comprises generally an upright frame. a head associated with the frame and movable vertically therein, and gripping and holding means carried and supported adjustably by the head for supporting articles to be carried by the apparatus. This gripping means in general includes a, pair of tongs and actuating mechanism associated with the tongs for opening and closing them.

The combination apparatus of this invention involves the foregoing structure and a conventional lift truck having a mast and means for moving the mast and the head together vertically in the frame.

More in detail, the apparatus of the foregoing drawings comprises a conventional lift truck T including an upright telescoping frame F, a telescoping mast M disposed in the frame and associated therewith and connected to a slide member l0 of the frame, a head H secured to member I0 and slidable therewith in the frame, and means including power transmission apparatus for operating the mast. This transmission apparatus includes a sprocket S secured to slide member I0 by a bracket B and a driving chain C for applying lifting force through bracket B and head I-I to the mast and member I0. In addition, the truck is equipped with a pair of cylinders Y (one being illustrated) which are connected to approximately the mid-section of frame F and are stationarily mounted on the truck to move the frame through a vertical arc from about 15 degrees forward oi' the vertical position to about 15 degress rearwardly thereof around a pivot near the bottom of the frame. The pivot attachment of the frame to the truck 3 is made in the conventional manner by means of brackets I2 (Fig. 6). Y

Head H comprises a generally rectangular. fabricated, metal body,.the portion of `,which facing forwardly of the frame comprises a metal plate I3. Plate I3 is provided with Ya plurality of spaced apertures (not shown) arranged in a circular pattern to receive bolt means I4 for fastening firmly to the head the tong assembly and operating apparatus therefor. Plate I3 also has a central aperture I6, the purpose of which will be described, and is welded around its periphery to a frame I8. which together with plate I3 constitutes said head.

Tong means G and operating `mechanism O therefor are supported by an elongated. generally cylindrical housing having flanged ends 2| and 22, the latter one ofwhich it attached by bolt means I4 to the headlH. Housing 20 is provided between its ends vwith annelongated. axially'v extending access opening 24 tov facilitate `repair and maintenance of the tong actuating mechanism.v Flange 2| ris of reducedgdiameter compared to flange 22 but like flange-221s provided with a plurality of spacedapertureslalso not shown). arranged in circular pattern around the housing to receive bolt means 21.

Mechanism O comprises a hydraulic cylinder 28 asshown in Fig. 4 having a clevis 29 at its.

ends adjacent to head H for attachmentby In the operation of the present device, the driver of the truck maneuvers it into position adjacent to an end of the ingot I and then raises or lowers the head H and tongs 50 to bring the tongs into position to grip the end portion of the ingot,'tilting frame F as necessary to pick up the ingot.1 l.The tongs then are closed on ingot I by causing'piston 40 to move to the position shown in Fig. 4, and the truck is driven to a point adjacent to the'furnace so that the ingot extends into the furnace. The piston is then moved'to lts forward position so that the tongs are opened, as shownin Fig. 5, and the'ingot is dropped in the furnace clear of the furnace sills and side walls. ,v

Having thus described the present invention so that those skilled in the art will be able to get a betterunderstanding Yand practice'the same, I state that what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is defined in what is claimed. What is claimed is: Ina lift truck having a mast and means for I vertically moving the mast, the combination of a means of a bolt 3l to a retaining bar 33 connected.,

to head H by a bolt 34 extending through aper` ture I6 and a nut 35 screwed onto bolt 34 and bearing on the inner surface of plate I3. Cylinder 28 is provided with the usual fluid inlet and outlet ports 38 and 39, respectively, on opposite sides of a piston 4l! which is reciprocated in the cylinder under fluid pressure differentials across the piston established in the usual manner. A piston rod 42 is screwed into a. threaded axial aperture of piston and extends forwardly of the piston through a packing gland 43 and terminates in a threaded portion 45 disposed outside cylinder 28.

Tong means G comprises a pair of tongs composed of mated tong links 5I opposed to and spaced apart from each other at their pivot f points. Links 5I are pivoted onv a pair ofpins 5l secured to the'forwardl portion of a bell-.shaped tong head 55. The tongs are operatively asso# ciated with mechanism O by means of a yoke 51 connected to a rod 58 which reciprocates with' substantially vertically disposed elongated frame 'pivotally secured near itsl lower end to the truck for tilting motion relative to said truck, a head associated with the mast and movable up and down therewith in said frame, a hollow lopenended generally cylindrical housing secured at one end to the head and extending therefrom forwardly of the truck and having an axially extending access opening, and gripping and hold- REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 831,964 Martersteck Sept. 25, 1906 1,518,560 Carroll Dec. 9, 1924 2,345,572 Brosius Apr. 4, 1944 2,362,749 Gall et al. -Novg 14, 1944 2,469,812 Breslav May 10, 1949 2,509,023 Vogel let a1 May 23, 1950 

